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SKETCH 



OF THE 



PUBLIC LIFE OF LEVI WOODBURY. 



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Levi Woodburt is descended from that intrepid 
and strong-minded race of men who left their homes 
in England early in the seventeenth century, to en- 
joy their rights as freemen, and settled upon the 
rocky shores of the North. The American nation 
is indebted to their foresight and sagacity for many 
of those institutions which have given character and 
efficiency to our system of self-government. How- 
eVer obscure as individuals, each of those practical 
democrats held that station in society, and possess- 
ed the weight and influence in its government, to 
which his talents, industry, and usefulness en- 
titled him. 

In Farmer's account of the early emigrants to 
New England, it is stated that the ancestors of Mr. 
Woodbury were among the original settlers of 
Salem, one of the first plantations in the colony of 
Massachusetts. From that part of the ancient 
town of Salem, which is now comprehended with- 
in the limits of Beverly, Peter Woodbury went, at 
an early age, to Francestown, an agricultural set- 
tlement in the interior of New Hampshire, where 
his eldest son, the subject of the present sketch, 
was born, about the commencement of 1790. 

Mr. Woodbury, fromhis childhood, was trained 
to those habits of industry which are so general 
among the population of New England. His prin- 
cipal elementary education was obtained in the 
free schools kept in his native village, during the 
winter months, when farming labor is suspended, 
as is the usual practice under the system of laws 
which were originally established by the Pilgrims. 
On reaching a suitable age he was sent to perma- 
nent seminaries away from home, for short periods, 
during the summer season, in order to acquire a 
sufficient knowledge of the rudiments of the Latin 
and Greek languages, to enable him to enter col- 
lege. He was early distinguished for his applica- 
tion to study, and manifested, even in his boy- 
hood, that ardor in the pursuit of knowledge, and 
that readiness of apprehension, and decision of 
character, which he has since shown in the dis- 
charge of the most important duties. 

He took his first degree at Dartmouth College in 
1809, with high reputation for talents and acquire- 
ments, and immediately devoted himself to the 
profession he had chosen. After passing a year at 
the celebrated law school at Litchfield, Connecti- 
cut, he studied the residue of his preparatory term 
at Boston, Exeter, and his native place. In 1812 
he was admitted to the bar. 

At the period of Mr. Woodbury's entrance into 
active life, party spirit raged in the Eastern States 
with more intensity than at any time since the 
adoption of the Constitution of the United Slates. 
The restrictions and embarrassments upon our 
commerce during previous years, imposed in con- 
sequence of the lawless course of the European 
belligerents, had deeply involved the pursuits of 
the bulk of the people, and wrought up 'heir feel- 



ings against the policy of the Government. This 
state of general agitation had been followed by the 
declaration of war against Great Britain, by which 
the ordinary employments and means of subsist- 
ence of large classes were suspended, and the lux- 
uries and comforts of all curtailed. Those opposed 
to the measures of the Administration were, un- 
der these circumstances, able to infuse an extent 
of disaffection towards the Government of the 
Union among the people, which can hardly be re- 
alized by those who have only witnessed party 
contests of more recent date. Throughout the 
greatest part of New Hampshire the Democracy 
were overwhelmed by the unremitting and unscru- 
pulous exertions directed by individuals of dis- 
tinguished talents. Declamations netting forth, in 
glowing language, the wrongs inflicted on the peo-- 
pie of New England by the Government of tho 
Union, and the advantages of secession and alliance 
with England— or at least a state of neutrality, 
were boldly put forth in every part of New Eng- 
land. 

The unwearied pains taken to subvert all senti- 
ments of patriotism among the mass of the people, 
had produced such alarming consequences, that the 
friends of the Republic were compelled to inter- 
pose their most strenuous exertions to prevent the 
adoption of measures of the last extremity by the 
Opposition to the Government of the Union. Not- 
withstanding the youth of Mr. Woodbury, he took 
a decided stand during this eventful period. He 
bestowed unwearied exertions in disabusing the 
public mind from the prejudices which had been 
widely diffused by the factious measures of the 
Federal party. At a public meeting of Demo- 
cratic delegates from the several towns in his native 
county of" Hillsborough, he took a leading part 
while yet a student in a law office. A series of 
powerful and judicious resolutions from his pen 
were adopted, with salutary eftect upon the politi- 
cal stabihty of that large county. In other parts 
of the State the Federal party carried the elections 
of 1813, and retained the ascendency in its coun- 
cils until 1816. 

Besides his exertions in support of the great 
constitutional principles involved in the contest 
which raged during a great portion of this inter- 
val, Mr. Woodbury continued to bestow the most 
diligent application upon his professional duties. 
Few lawyers have obtained, at the outset of their 
professional life, a more extensive and respectable 
practice. By an exemplary performance of the 
high promise of his youth, he rapidly acquired a 
rank at a bar at which lawyers, who are among 
the most distinguished in the Union, practisWA 

In 181G ihe political character of the State be- 
came changed. The Democratic party having 
obtained the ascendency, on the meeting of the 
Legislature, Mr. Woodbury was invited to the seat 
of government to discharge the duties of Secretary ^ 






of the Senate; and at the commencement oi" the j which had occurred in the Senate of the United 
next year, lie was appointed judge of the Superior States. 

His talents, information, and habits of unwearied 



Court. 

Ascending the hench of the highest judicial tri- 
bunal f.f the Slate, at an age more youthful than 
liad before occurred in its history,' the ajipoint- 
ment excited much remark where Mr. Woodbury 



application, gave Mr. Woodbury much influence 
upon the deliberations of the Senate. Regarded 
as the principal organ of the Democracy of New 
England in that body, during the Administration 



was personally unknown. The result surpassed i of President Adams, his clear and forcible expo 
the utmost expectations of his friends. In the ' ' -■ ■ .... 

discharge of the arduous and responsible duties of 
this station, ho evinced the most estimable qualifi- 
cations of a judge— diligence, patience, firmness, 
arid good temper. His familiarity with legal prin- 
ciples and reach of mind, combined with his 
suavity of manners and moral courage, enabled 
him to conduct jury trials with great salisfection 
to the public, while his judicial opinions showed 
great research and accurate discrimination. Am- 
ple testimony of the qualifications of Mr. Wood- 
bury for the performance of the duties of his office 
may be found in the two first volumes of the New 
Hampshire Reports. 

In 1819 Mr. Woodbury removed to Portsmouth, 
the commercial capital of New Hampshire, where 
he continued to reside until he became a member 
of President Jackson's Cabinet. 

Mr. Woodbury was chosen Governor of New 
Hampshire in 1823, under circumstances which 
placed him in a novel position in relation to the 
two political parties into which that State has been 



long divided. An estimable citizen, belonging to 
the western section of the State, was put in nomi- 
nation for that office by a portion of the Demo- 
cratic party; while those in the eastern part of the 
State nominated and supported Mr. Woodbury. 
No candidate was brought out by the Federal 
party, who had witnessed the rigid abstinence from 
every expression of political bias which he had 
maintained in the discharge of his judicial duties. 



silions of its views were received with great defer- 
ence on several important occasions. His power- 
ful vindication of that parly against the sarcastic 
attacks made upon its conduct and principles by 
those who had opposed it both in peace and in 
war, which occurred in the course of the debate 
upon Mr. Foot's resolution respecting the public 
lands, was much spoken of at the time. 

After the first session at which Mr. Woodbury 
took his seat, his name appears upon some of the 
most important committees, and connected with 
the most interesting proceedings of the Senate. 
During those four sessions, he was elected chair- 
man of the Committee on Commerce, and entered 
zealously into several measures affecting the com- 
mercial interests. His report upon the Delaware 
breakwater, in January, 1827, and his speeches 
upon that subject; upon the West India trade, 
when our relations with Great Britain, in regard to 
this branch of commerce, had become unfortu- 
nately disturbed; upon the bankrupt bill; and his 
roport from the Committee of Agriculture, were 
all liiolily creditable to him. The duties performed 
by Mr. Woodbury upon the Committee on Naval 
Affairs and on the Library, as well as upon sev- 
eral important select committees, were equally ex- 
emplary and useful. 

While he retained his seat in the Senate, many 
transactions of great interest were intrusted to his 
management before the Superior Court of his own 
State. The requisite care of his family and private 



and who generally voted for him throughout the I affairs necessarily occupied much of his attention, 
State. Elected by an overwhelming majority, the '• and his annual absence from home exposed him to 



Federal leaden undoubtedly flattered themselves 
that he would be induced, from having received 
their support, to regulate his official measures 
agreeably to their wishes. When the policy of 
his administration was developed, his adherence 
to his early Democratic principles became loo ob- 
vious to be mistaken; and the only solace remain- 
ing to them, under the disappointment of such 
hopes, was, to denounce him in strong terms. 
Equally unmoved by the abuse as unseduced by 
the blandishments of partisans, whose approbation 
of public measures ap])cars loo often to depend 
upon the extent to which they may be made to 
promote their personal interests, Mr. Woodbury 
inflexibly pursued the path of duty. The united 



great sacrifices. When the period approached at 
which it was understood an election would be 
made to fill his place in the Senate, he addressed a 
letter to the Governor of the Slate, containing a 
request that it might be communicated to the Le- 
gislature, declining a reelection. 

His term of service expired on the 3d of March, 
1831. At the annual election in New Hampshire, 
which occurred five days afterwards, he was cho- 
sen State Senator for the district in which he resi- 
ded. On the reorganization of the Cabinet, in the 
month of April following, he was invited by Pres- 
ident Jackson to take the office of Secretary of the 
Navy. This appointmeul he was induced to ac- 
cept. He accordingly declined the office of Slate 



opposition of the Federal party, together with that | Senator; and, repairing to the seat of the G'-neraJ 
of many influential Democrats, who had originally ; Government, soon entered upon the functions or 
opposed his election, prevented his being chosen 1 his new appointment 
for a second term, and he resumed the practice of 
his profession, after his period of service as Gov- 



ernor expired 

His knowledge of the law and his forensic tal- 
ents immediately surrounded him with clients from 
every J'art of the State. He was soon called on by 
his fellow-citizens to discharge political duties. In 
^825, the year following, he was chosen by the 
town of Portsmouth a representative in the Legis- 
lature of the Stale; and at the commencement of 
the session — having never been before a member of 
any legislative assembly — he was elected Speaker 
of the House. Among the last acts of the session 
was the choice of Mr. Woodbury to fill a vacancy 



Those who held official intercourse with Mr. 
Woodbury, as Secretary of the Navy, generally 
concur that he manifested great method, firmness, 
and promptitude in the discharge of the important 
duties which devolved upon him in that station. 
By introducing general and impartial rules for the 
guidance of the decisions of the department on the 
subject of allowances, and in the distribution of 
the privileges and burdens arising from the relative 
advantages to the officers employed at the various 
stations, he succeeded in avoiding many of the im- 

Eutalions and inconveniences to which the course 
eforc pursued had aometimea subjected the head 
of the department. He evinced great zeal as well 



8 



as judgment in arranging the naval force of the 
country for tlie protection of its foreign commerce, 
and sustaining the honor of our national flag abroad. 
When, on one occasion, in 1831, he promptly de- 
spatched the frigate Potomac to Sumatra to olitnin 
satisfaction or inflict punishment upon the haliitual 
marauders upon the trade carried on with the In- 
dian Archipelago, he was most unjustly censured, 
both on the floor of Congress and in the newspa- 
pers of the day, before the result of the expedition 
was accurately understood in this country. After 
the facts became known, the transaction was gen- 



came necessary, in the exercise of common pru- 
dence, to make seasonalilc arrangements for the 
management of the public finances after the expi- 
ration of the bank charter. 

The President, after having expressed his opin- 
ion publicly that the conduct of the Iiankhad been 
such as to destroy all his confidence in its manage- 
ment as the fiscal agent of iheGovernment, directed 
that the public money in its custody be foithwith 
transferred to certain State banks, at tlie most 
iwiportant points, and at more remote periods at 
other places. Mr. Duane, then Secretary of the 
~ ' ' opposed this decision, he was 



erally conceded to reflect great credit both upon [Treasury, haviii _ , 

the department and the gallant oflicers in com- | dismissed, and Mr. Taney, who is under.siood to 

mand. " ' have expressed an opinion, as Attorney General, 



While Mr. Woodbury was Secretary of the 
Navy, several important questions came before the 
Cabinet relative to the financial policy of the Gov- 
ernment. When he afterwards became connected 
with the immediate management of the public 
finances, as Secretary of the Treasury, measures 
which produced the most important and exciting 
consequences upon the commercial and financial 



favorable to the immediate removal of the whole 
public money from the bank, was appointed in hi.s 
place. On his becoming Secretary of the Treas- 
ury, in August, 1833, he adopted the necessary 
measures for carrying the decision of the President 
into effect. 

The removal of the public money from the Bank 
of the United States to the selected State banks 



prosperity of the country, were brought into oper- • was condemned by a vole of the Senate, butsanC' 
ation, the origin and object of which we feel bound tioued by a majority of the House of Representa- 
to point out, as well as to explain his course in j tives. When ihe nomination of Mr. Taiiey, as 
relation to them at some length. It therefore seems j Secretary of the Treasury, came before the Senate, 
to be proper to give, as far as our information of' it was rejected; but no objection appears to have 
the transactions'of that period will enable us, his ] been made to that of Mr. Woodbury, as his suc- 
views upon these questions. i cessor, whose appointment was confirmed at the 

The charter of the Bank of the United States j end of June, 1834. 
was to expire, by its own limitation, on the 4th of ; The duties which devolved upon him in this 
March, 1836. The President and directors of that i new station, and the manner in which he has dis- 
corporation, with a design which could not be j charged them, prove how well adapted were his 
mistaken, applied to Congress early in the session j talents, acquirements, and habits, for the efficient 
of 183I-'2, for a renewarof their charter — on the ' superintendence of the public finances. The ya- 
eve of the Presidential election of the autumn of j riety of important reports, many of them calling 



the latter year. This question was obviously — 
and, indeed, on the part of some of the advocates 
of the recharter, avowedly — brought before Con- 
gress four years before any decision upon it could 
take effect, with a view of controlling that election 
through the power of the bank over the mercantile 
and speculating classes, should the President de- 
termine to refuse his sanction to the recharter — as 
was generally Supposed would be the case. The 
bill rechartering the bank passed, extending the 
bank charter twenty years, and was placed before 
the President for his approval. What advice was 
given by the several members of the Cabinet upon 
the question of approving this bill, we have no 
means of knowing, excepting from the general 
opinions u))on that and similar subjects which have 
been on other occasions avowed by the individuals 
composing it. Mr. Woodbury, from the com- 
mencement of his political career, had been a firm 
and devoted disciple of the school of Jefferson, and 
on all occasions had steadfastly opposed the doc- 
trines and practices which had grown out of what 



for abilitvand research, which helms been required 
to make to Congress from time to time, in addition 
to the current business of his office, have fully 
evinced the energy and rapidity of his mental op- 
erations. Within a few months after he took 
charge of the Treasury Department, he prepared 
an elaborate annual report on the finances, together 
with a supplemental report upon the keeping and 
disbursing the public moneys, which clearly de- 
monstrated that no Bank of the United States is 
nccespary for these purposes under the demands 
and fiicilUies which exist at the present day, what- 
ever may have been required by the state of public 
credit at the period when the first and second banks 
were chartered. The principal argument in favor 
of the constitutionality of a Bank of the United 
States is conclusively answered by the facts estab- 
lished by this report, since, unless such an institu- 
tion is actually required for the management of the 
public finances, it is admitted on all hands that 
Congress possesses no authority to charter it under 
the general grant of incidental powers, hi this 



had been usually termed a liberal construction of valuable document, some of the questions relative 



the Constitution. We hazard little of conjecture, 
therefore, in stating, that he advised the President 
to return the bill, with objections to its constitu- 
tionality. It was returned to the Senate, where it 
originated, with a message, assigning reasons, both 
constitutional and prudential, against its provis- 
ions. 

The (juestion of the recharter of the bank was 
made, as had been doubtless intended by bringing 
it up in advance of the election, the main jssue in 
the contest for the Presidency in 1832. The course 
of the Executive having been sustained by a very 
great majority of the people of the Union, it be- 



to the currency and exchanges of this country, 
which had been little understood, were explained 
in a most satisfactory manner, as well as many 
statistical facts collected, which must be regarded 
as an important accession of novel and authentic 
information on those subjects — particularly the 
tables showing the receipts and expenditures in 
each State, and the circulation of specie aii'l paper 
in the different countries of the world at liifferent 
periods. 

Within the same time, Mr. Woodbury jirepared 
a masterly report upon the reorganization of the 
Treasury Department, in which the checks against 



the possible occurrence of fraud or mistake, in its 
various brandies, were proposed to be simplified 
in such a manner as to enforce the most rigid ac- 
countal)ility; and another report, wliicii must have 
required extensive investigation and inquiry, upon 
the number, grades, and duties of tlie officers in 
the several custoni-Jiouses of the United States. 
The repeated changes which had been made in tlie 
tariff had involved the practical computation of the 
mode pointed out by ]i\\v for the compensation of 
most of the priiicipal officers of the customs in 
great confusion, and, in many instances, produced 
a degree of injustice which could not have been 
foreseen by Congress. Mr. Woodbury explained 
the whole subject, in all its bearings upon the 
public service, with great ability. 

About the same period, he was obliged to enter 
into an extended correspondence with the Presi- 
dent of the Bank of the United States respecting 
^the issue by the bank of the drafts of its branches, 
and their payment to the collectors and receivers 
of public money as currency at points remote from 
those to which they were directed; and relative to 
the sequestration of the dividends belonging to the 
United States upon a claim for damages on the re- 
turn of a bill of exchange upon the French Govern- 
ment — both of which assumptions of power by that 
corporation were exposed with great force and effect. 

The panic measures concerted by that bank were 
pursued with so much harshness, before and during 
the session of Congress of 1833- '4, that several of 
its devoted friends were reduced to the verge of 
bankruptcy — indeed, some of them were evidently 
sacrificed for the purpose of increasing the clamor 
against the Administration. But President Jackson 
remained steadfast in his desire of ultimately reliev- 
ing the mercantile transactions of the community 
from the mischievous disturbances which the inter- 
est or caprice of the managers of the bank had so 
repeatedly produced, through its power over the 
public revenue. The excitement fomented with 
the view of inducing Congress to order the public 
money to be returned to its custody having entirely 
failed, the bank, near the close of 1834, suddenly 
and entirely changed its course of policy towards 
the merchants and the public at large. 

A large surplus revenue was brought into the 
public treasury by the extensive importations of 
foreign goods, .subject to duty, and by the great 
sales of the public lands, both of which were obvi- 
ously produced by the enormous expansion of the 
currency. The extent of the public domain sold 
and paid for during the years 1835 and 183G ex- 
ceeded the whole which had been sold during the 
preceding period from the establishment of the 
General Land Office. The force and organization 
of this branch of the Treasury Department were 
found entirely inadequate to discharge its most 
pressing duties, and it was enlarged by Congress 
more than fourfold. The questions of conflicting 
interest among purchasers increased with their 
avidity to possess themselves of choice tracts. 
IVlorc (juostions of this kind were appealed to Mr. 
Woodliury,and ddided by him, between 1834 and 
1838 than had probaldy arisen from the tnundation 
of the department. Many of these questions were 
argued at length by counsel, and from their conse- 
quences, as precedents, and the value of the prop- 
erty involved, required extensive investisation and 
great aire in their decision, and increased the bur- 
den and responsibility of liis official duties to an 
imporUuit extent. 

The public money, accumulated in the manner 



we have endeavored to explain, was deposited in 
the State banks which had been selected for that 
purpose. These cor]iorations enjoyed an accession 
of profits and influence by this means which ex- 
cited general dissatisfaction on the part of those 
interested in the numerous other banks, as well as 
of vast numbers of individuals who, under the con- 
tinued advance of prices, from the increasingexpan- 
sion of the currency, were desirous to avail them- 
selves of greater facilities than they could command 
for speculation. This they hoped to do by the 
selection of a greater number of banks. All the 
complaints, in every quarter of the country, against 
the deposit banks, on the score of favoritism, and 
disinclination to accommodate the trading commu- 
nity, were charged against Mr. Woodbury and the 
Administration of the General Government, though 
these banks had been originally selected by his pre- 
decessor without the slightest reference to partisan 
views, as must be evident from the fact that the 
directors of nearly the whole of them were politi- 
cally opposed to the Administration at the period of 
their selection, and have so continued to the present 
hour. 

In his Annual Report on the Finances, made to 
Congress at the commencement of the session of 
1835-'6, Mr. Woodbury discussed the question of 
disposing of the surplus which, under the existing 
laws, had been raised from the people beyond the 
necessary expenditures of the Government, with 
signal sagacity and ability. Such a question had 
evidently never occurred among the possibilities 
foreseen by the framers of the Constitution. Un- 
der the operation of the system of solid currency, 
exclusively recognized by that instrument, a large 
surplus revenue could not have been inadvertently 
created by a sudden expansion of the medium of 
payment. Having suffered innumerable evils from 
the depreciation to which all paper currency is lia- 
ble, they did not contemplate that their posterity 
would fall into the snare against which they had 
provided so many safeguards. But factitious wealth 
had been created in spite of these restraints, and 
the speculations it had engendered produced this 
evil. The corrupting influence of large amounts of 
public money, employed by irresponsible individ- 
uals, for their own private advantage, had aroused 
the jealousy of the people at large. Some mode of 
disposing of it had become absolutely necessary. 
Convinced, as he appears to have been, that the 
sudden withdrawal of the great amounts deposited 
in the banks would deeply affect their credit and 
usefulness, as well as impair the confidence reposed 
in them by the community, Mr. Woodbury recom- 
mended to Congress the enlargement of the appro- 
priations for the permanent security of the fron- 
tiers; the completion, with all practicable rapidity, of 
our great public works; and the investment of such 
sums as might not be applicable to these objects, 
in such stocks of the several States as might be 
readily sold in the market; forming a provident 
fund, with probable security, for the purpose of 
meeting the prospective reduction of the tariff and 
deficiencies of the revenue, which he confidently 
predicted from the inevitable operation of the ex- 
isting system. Instead of adopting these proposi- 
tions'. Congress determined to divide the surplus 
which might remain in the treasury on the 1st of 
.January, 1837, among the several States, and, in 
the meantime, to distribute it among the banks in 
such a manner that no one should hold a greater 
proportion of the public money than three-fourths 
of the amount of its capital. 



It is well known that President Jackson, fore- 
seeinsj many of the evils to which the withdiawal 
of great amounts of money from the banks, witliin 
a short period, would expose both them and the 
community, under the state of artificial expansion 
which was continually going on, very reluctantly 
gave his approval to this measure, which iiad been 
most earnestly supported by the most zealous pro- 
fessing friends of the State banks. With the view 
of checking this expansion, and enabling the banks 
to make suitable provisions for sustaining them- 
selves under the crisis which it was obvious, to all 
reflecting men, must be occasioned by the opera- 
tion of this measure, he directed the rigid enforce- 
ment of the laws, which require all purchases of 
public lands to be paid for in cash, except those 
made by actual settlers within a certain specified 
period, which occasioned the promulgation, by 
Mr. Woodbury, of the circular order of the lllh 
July, 1836, on that subject. 

On the passage of the deposit law, Mr. Wood- 
bury appears to have adopted the necessary meas- 
ures for carrying it into execution. Several of the 
banks, previously employed as depositories, espe- 
cially those of New York, the commercial empo- 
rium of the country, as well as in other cities 
where large importations had been made, held 
amounts of public money greatly beyond the pro- 
portions which could be permitted to l-emain in 
them under the rigid enactments of the law. All 
the existing banks in the city of New York were 
insufficient for its custody there under its provis- 
ions. As the act imperatively directed Mr. Wood- 
bury to select one or more deposit banks in each 
State of the Union, and in many of the States little 
or no revenue was collected, and none of the pub- 
lic money was within them which was required to 
be deposited with the State at the commencement 
of the ensuing year, he was compelled to order the 
transfer of the overplus which could not be held in 
those cities, to such convenient points as might 
enable the deposits to be made with the States with 
the greatest facility. For this course he was ex- 
posed to the most violent censure from individuals 
who have manifested that the ties of the law fur- 
nish very feeble restraints upon the gratification of 
their views of advantage. In fact, the character 
of the abuse which has been showered upon Mr. 
Woodbury by some of the advocates of this law, 
must be regarded as extraordinary, even under the 
latitude of criticism to which public men in this 
country are subjected. He never made a secret of 
his repugnance to some of the provisions of the 
law, which, in common with most men of discern- 
ment, he foresaw would be attended with great 
public and private calamities, unless the banks 
should exercise great forbearance towards each 
other. Nevertheless, as a public officer, he was 
bound to fulfill his duty by adopting all practica- 
ble steps for carrying it into execution. At first, 
for a considerable period, he was publicly charged 
by a class of unscrupulous politicians with having 
determined to disregard its enactments. When, 
however, he had commenced the discharge of his 
duty by issuing the necessary orders for carrying 
it into eflfect, the same politicians alleged, in effect, 
though not, perhaps, in terms, that he was respon- 
sible for the evils created by its operation, many 
of which he had foreseen and pointed out as inev- 
itable before its passage. The sudden curtailment 
of the accommodations of the banks by the transfer 
of nearly forty millions of dollars within nine 
months to the States, many of which were out of 



the ordinary channels of extensive commerce and 
large pecuniary operations, could not fail to pro- 
duce the greatest inconveniences, both to the banks 
and their debtors. All the indulgences within the 
power of Mr. Woodbury appear, from his corre- 
siiondence called for and published by order of 
Congress, to have been given, as to time, place, 
and mode of transfer. But by the terms of the 
law, the money was required to be collected and 
paid over. A dispen-sation from this process could 
alone relieve them from their difficulties. This 
could be done only by a repeal of the law, or by a 
flagrant violation of Us provisions. Still, he was 
constantly assailed as the author of the troubles in 
which the banks were involved, and even was held 
responsible for the want of confidence evinced by 
them towards each other, by demanding specie 
upon the transfers he was compelled to direct, in 
fulfilment of the enactments of the law. 

The various charges which had been made in 
Congress,during the sessions of 1835- '6 and 1836-'7 
against the management of Mr. Woodbury, rela- 
tive to the public money deposited with the select- 
ed State banks, resulted, during the latter session, 
in the appointment, by the House of Representa- 
tives, of a select committee for the purpose of inves- 
tigating this subject. Another select committee was 
also appointed, about the same time, to investigate 
any other charges either against him or the other 
heads of departments. Of the decency and dignity 
of some of the expedients resorted to for the pur- 
pose of showing an improper collusion with any 
agent of deposit banks, which was the leading 
subject of inquiry, the American people, to whom 
their representatives are alone accountable, must 
determine. All the charges made against Mr. 
Woodbury were substantially abandoned, and ,after 
collecting a large volume of testimony, involving a 
most severe and searching scrutiny, the reports of 
the whole of the committee resulted in his excul- 
pation. Nor did the inquiries of the other com- 
mittee develop anything which tended in the slight- 
est degree to impugn the fidelity, judgment, and 
ability with which the transfers to the States and 
the other requirements of the deposit law, which had 
been made the principal topic of complaint against 
Mr. Woodbury, had been directed by him. 

Among the onerous and thankless duties offici- 
ally devolved upon him in 1836, was an investiga- 
tion into theaffairsof the Bank of the United States, 
for the purpose of liquidating the sum due from that 
corporation to the public, on account of its owner- 
ship of one-fifth part of the capital stock. The 
course pursued by the managers of that bank rela- 
tive to this public property shocked the sense of 
justice of many individuals who had palliated their 
previous conduct. Those who had not ventured 
to disapprove of violations of the law, the observ- 
ance of which constitutes the only secure safe- 
guard of all our social rights, were unable to find 
any sufficient excuse for a palpable breach of the 
ordinary principles of upright and honorable deal- 
ing. Just before the charter granted by Congress 
expired, the directors had assigned its assets to a 
new corporation, created by the Slate of Pennsyl- 
vania, bearing the same name. It appears, by the 
report made to Congress early in the session of 
1836-'7, that repeated calls were made upon the 
president of the corporation chartered by Congress 
for a statement of the value of this stock. After 
the lapse of some months, a statement representing 
its precise value was officially transmitted to Mr. 
Woodbury J who caused it to be carefully analyzed,/ 



6 



upon which it was, in effect, admitted that about 
half a million of dollars ought to be paid, in addi- 
tion to that originally stated. An adjustment was 
subsec]uently concluded upon the basis established 
by this report, under the authority of Congress. 

With the year 1837, the difficulties of the banks, 
arising from their excessive issues, which had been 
repeatedly adverted to by Mr. Woodbury, and tlie 
fatal consequences predicted in his annual report 
on the finances, at the commencement of the jire- 
ceding session, were aggravated by the execution 
of the deposits with the States. Specie began to 
be drawn from the banks of New York for the pur- 

Eose of remittance. Satisfied that this course would 
e extensively adopted by individuals who were 
determined to sustain their credit abroad, the banks 
of New York (their stock of specie having been 
greatly reduced a short time before by drafts made 
upon them by those of other cities, especially of 
Philadelphia) determined, on the lOlh of May, to 
refuse the payment of their obligations in specie. 
A similar resolution was adopted in the course of 
that month by most of the banks throughout the 
Union. 

This general suspension of the payment of law- 
ful currency, placed the public treasury, whose 
means of payment had by law been lodged in 
banks, nearly the whole of which dishonored their 
obligations at once, in a novel and most embar- 
rassing predicament. From the origin of the Gov- 
ernment of the United States, the laws had strictly 
provided that no payments should be made into 
the treasury but in gold and silver coin. In prac- 
tice, these laws had been relaxed by the receipt of 
the notes of specie-paying banks, convertible into 
specie at the place where received as equivalent to 
cash: and this practice had been sanctioned by the 
joint resolution of Congress of 1816. Under the 
provisions of the act of 1836, no payment to any 
public creditor, even in the notes of specie-paying 
banks, excepting above certain denominations and 
equivalent to specie where offered, was lawful. 
When the banks throughout the country, holding 
within their control nearly the whole means pro- 
vided for meeting the public engagements, refused 
at once to furnish the medium of payment required 
by law, the first impression among all classes of 
people was, that the financial operations of the 
Goveniinenl musi. be totally slupped. This was 
exultingly proclaimed, in advance of the suspen- 
sion, by individuals who had performed a leading 
part in the measures which had produced it. 

But Mr. Woodbury met this emergency with 
his characteristic promptitude, energy, and sagaci- 
ty. As soon as information of the suspension of 
die banks of New York reached the seat of Gov- 
ernment, circular orders were despatched to the 
'-ollectors and receivers of the public money, to 
forbear making deposits to the credit of the trcas- 
irer, in any bank which should not redeem its 
lotes in legal currency. They were directed to 
•ceep the public money, and make weekly returns 
>flnc amount, in order that the treasurer might 
Iraw directly on them in payment of claims against 
he United Stales. Their receipts were not very 
jonsiderable, excepting at some of the land offices, 
md would obviously go but little way in defray- 
ng the claims charged upon the treasury for the 
support of the public establishments upon the sea- 
joard. For the purpose of providing for the ap- 
)ropriations made bylaw, without requiring public 
•.realtors to receive the depreciated paper of the 
•anks in which the public money was placed in 



deposit, he immediately directed the treasurer to 
change the mode of making payments at the treas- 
ury. For several years it had been the practice 
to issue warrants in favor of claimants, based on 
the proper appropriations, directed to the treasurer, 
who made his order upon the warrants, requiring 
some ^deposit bank, convenient to the claimants, 
to pay the warrants, and charge their amount to 
the treasury. Instead of seeding them to the claim- 
ants, Mr. Woodbury directed the treasurer to 
keep the warrants, and transmit his orders sepa- 
rately by drafts upon the banks, holding cash to 
his credit, in such sums, amounting to the aggre- 
gate of each warrant, as might be desired by the 
holders. Should these drafts be paid to the satis- 
faction of the holder, as would generally be done 
where he happened to be indebted to the bank on 
which they were drawn, they would enable the 
bank to extinguish so much of its debt to the treas- 
ury, and no complaint could arise. But if the 
holder of the draft did not choose to accept such 
payment as the bank might offer, on proof of their 
dishonor, they were declared to be valid claims 
upon the treasury, and all collectors and receivers 
of public money weie instructed to receive them 
as cash in payment for duties and lands. By this 
simple arrangement public creditors were protected 
from the loss to which they might have been sub- 
jected from' depreciated paper, and, at the same 
time, payments into the treasury were facilitated 
without violation of law. 

The firmness of the Executive, and the efiScient 
arrangements adopted on the spur of the suspension 
by Mr. Woodbury, not only protected the im- 
mense arnount of outstanding contracts from the 
consequences of an increasing depreciation, but 
relieved the public finances from any pretext for 
committing them to a private corporation which 
had shown itself totally unscrupulous as to the 
violation of any law which interfered with its in- 
terests. More than all this, the State banks were 
saved from ultimate overthrow by this wise and 
judicious course. The resumption of their duties 
to the community must be in a great measure 
attributed to the assurance afforded that their true 
advantage was only to be promoted by the dis- 
charge of their obligations. Had the banks 
throughout the country been encouraged not only 
to have continued but to have increased the ex- 
pansion of irredeemable currency, by its receipt 
into the public treasury, the only alternative, ex- 
cept the charter of a national bank, for the purpose 
of destroying the State banks, would have been^ 
not " placing the credit system and the exclusive 
metallic system fairly in the field, face to face with 
each other," but arranging these combatants qui- 
etly side by side, under a legally established ratio 
of depreciation, as was done by our fathers during 
the revolutionary war, and as every contest, from 
the origin of commercial interchange, which has 
arisen between a sound and equal currency and a 
false and fraudulent measure of value, has resulted. 

On the occurrence of the suspension, the neces- 
sary arrangements for meeting the public exigen- 
cies, to the extent of the revenue accruing into their 
hands from time to time, and making suitable pro- 
vision for the balance, imposed a task upon Mr. 
Woodbury which required unremitting care and 
attention. The deficiencies from this source were 
supplied by drafts placed u[)on the banks hold- 
ing )iublic money in deposit in the mode before 
described. The largest payment which these 
banks were called on to elfect after their suspen- 



sion was the third instalment of deposit with the 
States, payable under the terms of the law in July. 
Several of them were either unable or unwillina; lo 
pay their proportions, in some instances even to 
the States which had chartered them. Many trans- 
fers which had been directed by Mr. Woodbury, 
with the view of making; seasonable provision for 
the last instalment, which fell due in October, had 
been at once stopped by the inability of the banks 
to execute them in consequence of the suspension. 
The innumerable obstacles which obviously inter- 
vened in effecting the balance of the deposits with 
the States under this new state of tilings, together 
with other weighty considerations relative to the 
security of the public resources, and the necessary 
facilities in their management, induced the Presi- 
dent to issue his proclamation for calling Congress 
together on the first Monday of September, 1837. 

At the extra session of 1837, the necessity for 
further legislation to protect the good faith of the 
United States in the transactions of the public treas- 
ury, by providing further safeguards for the receipt, 
custody, and disbursement of public money, was 
explained and urged upon the attention of Con- 
gress". But so thoroughly had the paper system 
become interwoven into all affairs of business, that 
no reform in this respect was established by law 
until 1840. After postponing the further deposit 
with the States, giving time to the merchants for 
the payment of duty bonds, and authorizing an 
issue of tieasury notes to sujiply the deficiency of 
available means occasioned by this postponement, 
and the default of the banks holding public money, 
Congress adjourned. 

In the midst of the laborious vigilance which the 
mancigement of the Treasury Department required 
under such a state of things, a vacancy occurred 
in the office of Chief Justice of the Supreme Court 
of New Hampshire, in 1838, and the constituted 
authorities of the State unanimously selected Mr. 
Woodbury to fill that important and dignified office. 
It must be presumed that he was not insensible to 
tkis testimonial of confidence from those who had 
longest and best known his character. But he was 
not a man who would consult his ease under the 
pressure of responsible duties. He was induced 
to waive his well-known personal predilections, on 
this occasion, in favor of the paramount claims of 
the public service in the Treasury Department, 
where he remained until the close of Mr. Van Bu- 
ren's Administration, on the 3d of March, 1841. 

During the seven years that Mr. Woodbury was 
Secretary of the Treasury, the Administrations of 
Presidents Jackson and Van Buren, as well as the 
producing and commercial interests of the country, 
were exposed to a continual struggle, on the part 
of the managers of the Bank of the United States, 
to obtain the control of the public finances. The 
published returns of that bank show, that during 
the seventeen years it enjoyed the use of the public 
money, the average balance in its possession exceed- 
ed ten millions of dollars. This immense perma- 
nent annuity, with the exclusive privileges which 
the bank was enabled to exercise for its profit, when 
•ole depository of the public money, was evidently 
regarded by its managers as a prize sufficiently 
brilliant to justify the most unscrupulous warfare. 
Notwithstanding the ingenious schemes devised for 
convulsing the monetary transactions of the coun- 
try, and the vast resources lavished , in all directions, 
for the purpose of bearing down the administration 
of the treasury, by popular clamor, the enterprise 
•signally failed. When the simultaneous suspension 



of specie payment!! by all the banks — including 
those which held in their possession the whole 
public money — had not compelled the treasury to 
receive irredeemable and depreciated currency in 
payment on public account, the futility of these 
assaults upon the public prosperity became obvious. 
After th is final achievement of the Bank of the United 
States had not been found to accomplish the designs 
of its managers, it preserved a precarious existence, 
under the exterior show of great strength, until 
about the close of the administration of President 
Van Buren, when it sunk — having dissipated ita 
entire capital of thirty-five millions of dollars, and 
leaving its notes and the deposits of individuals 
unpaid, to an immense amount. Throughout this 
entire contest — which was carried on in so many 
forms as to require the greatest financial skill 
and knowledge of the details of business to sus- 
tain the treasury in the prompt discharge of its 
legal duties — Mr. Woodbury firmly maintained 
the constitutional standard of value, on which 
depends the integrity of all pecuniary obligations. 
As one evidence of the esteem in which the char- 
acter and services of Mr. Woodbury were held by 
General Jackson in retirement, it may be men- 
tioned that his bust occupied a prominent place at 
the Hermitage. That this feeling was reciprocal, 
was seen from the eloquent eulogy pronounced by 
Mr. Woodbury on the death of the hero of New- 
Orleans. 

Soon after the Presidential election of 1840 was 
ascertained to have resulted in the choice of elect- 
ors favorable to General Harrison as President, 
and Mr. Tyler as Vice President, a vacancy in the 
Senate of the United States, after the 3d of March, 
1841, was to be filled by the Legislature of New 
Hampshire. Public opinion in the State was 
most favorable to the selection of Mr. Woodbury 
for this position. The faithful and able manner 
in which he had conducted the Treasury Depart- 
ment, in the midst of such unprecedented difficul- 
ties, had increased, if possible, the confidence of 
his fellow-citizens of New Hampshire. But, with 
many, a doubt arose whether, under the terms of 
the Constitution, he was eligible, not having per- 
sonally resided in the State during the ten years of 
his service as a member of the Executive Cabinetof 
the Union, and still remaining absent at the time 
of the election. The better opinion seemed to be, 
that the expression of the Constitution on this sub- 
ject referred to legal domicil. As Mr. Woodbury 
had never withdrawn himself in that sense from 
the State, but was merely absent in the public ser- 
vice, it was considered that his legal residenfe con- 
tinued during such absence. He was accordingly 
cho.sen, and took his seat in the Senate on the 4th 
of March, 1841, having resigned his office of Sec- 
retary of the Treasury on the preceding day. 

Immediately after the inauguration of President 
Harrison and the appointment of his Cabinet, he 
issued his summons for an extra session of Con- 
gress. On its meeting in June, the Secretary of 
the Treasury (Mr. Ewing) submitted his report on 
the state of the finances, which afterwards under- 
went a searching examination, both in regard to 
its principles and details, from Mr. Woodbury, in 
defence of his own management of the treasury. 

The leading measures brought forward at the 
extra session of 1841 — the bankrupt law — the two 
bills for chartering Banks of the United States — 
the act distributing among the States the proceeds 
of the public lands — the loan bill, for borrowing 
money, at the same time that the most secure fund 



i 



8 



for its reimbursement was dissipated — and the 
act repealing the independent treasury law, under 
which the public money was required to be 
received and disbursed without dependence on 
private corporations — were all discussed by Mr. 
Woodbury with great sagacity and power. He 
vindicated tiie measures of the Administrations of 
Presidents Jackson and Van Buren, corrected the 
misrepresentations of their opponents, and signally 
exposed the hypocrisy of those who, during past 
years, liad denounced every removal from office 
as proscriptive, and , on attaining power themselves, 
had at once made a general change of officers with- 
out regard to capacity or merit. His readiness, 
force of expression, and unremitting industry, at 
once entitled him to that position in the Senate, 
which, during his subsequent service in that body, 
was generally awarded him in public estimation. 

Among the many able speeches of Mr. Wood- 
bury, while in the minority of the Senate, perhaps 
the best were those upon the high tariff of 1842, 
upon the pretended retrenchments of public ex- 
penditure, while they had been actually increased, 
and upon the growth and condition of our foreign 
commerce and tonnage. 

If not the earliest advocate of the annexation of 
Texas, Mr. Woodbury was among the first of our 
leading public men who cameoutdecidedlyin favor 
of that measure, in published letters and speeches. 
He appears to regard the strength of the Union 
and its advantages to all sections of the country, to 
rest, mainly, upon the diversified pursuits of their 
citizens, and their mutual dependence upon each 
other for markets for the products of their indus- 
try, and supplies for their wants, under the great 
varieties of soil, climate, habits, and institutions, 
which prevail. 

Mr. Woodbury zealously supported the candi- 
dates nominated for President and Vice President 
at the Baltimore Convention in 1844. In Maine, 
New Hampshire, and Massachusetts, he addressed 
many public meetings during the autumn while 
the election was pending. Those who were present 
at the delivery of any one of about fifty speeches 
made by him on this occasion, can testify to the 
efl'ect produced upon his hearers. 

Besides his political speeches — and, perhaps, 
among them should be reckoned his interesting 
address in favor of free trade, delivered at New 
York and New Haven — Mr. Woodbury, while a 
member of the Senate, was invited to deliver many 
literary discourses at various places — as at Dart- 
mouth College, Boston, New York, Philadelphia, 
Baltimore, and Washington city. 

It was generally understood, soon after the in- 
auguration of President Polk, that the mission to 
the Court of Great Britain was offered to Mr. 
Woodbury, and declined from family considera- 
tions. In the autumn of 1845, a vacancy occurred 
on the bench of the Supreme Court of the United 
States, by the death of Judge Story. This ap- 
pointment was offered to Mr. Woodbury, and 
accepted. When his commission was sent, the 
period fixed by law for holding the courts for the 
eastern circuit had just arrived. The first authen- 
tic information that many citizens of Maine re- 



ceived of the appointment of Judge Woodbiwy, 
was his appearance on tlie bench of the circuit' 
court. In assuming the discharge of judicial du-' 
ties which had been devolved for many years upon 
one of the first jurists of the age, the friends of 
Judge Woodbury were prepared to expect that he 
would not perform these novel functions with ease 
and satisfaction, until he had become somewhat 
accustomed to their discharge. Though his atten- 
tion for so long a period had been directed to other 
branches of the public service, the judicial duties 
of a circuit where the calendar contained a very 
large number of heavy and important cases, were 
at once conducted with so much facility and knowl- 
edge of the law, that leading counsel, during the. 
first terms that Judge Woodbury presided in the 
court, expressed their .surprise at the depth of his 
learning, and the readiness with which it was 
applied to the cases in hand. The concurrent 
testimony of popular and professional opinion 
throughout the circuit, was, that the court had lost 
nothing either of dignity or efficiency under the 
administration of Judge Woodbury. Since he has 
been upon the bench, an unusual number of im- 
portant and difficult cases have been crowded into 
the circuit court of the United States. The pa- 
tience and tact of Judge Woodbury in the trial of 
cases, is only equalled by his industry and fidelity 
in deciding them. 

Notwithstanding the arduous duties devolving 
upon Judge Woodbury as presiding judge of the 
first circuit, and the number and importance of the 
opinions he has been called on to deliver in that 
capacity ,'he appears, by the Reports of the Decis- 
ion» of the Supreme Court of the United States, 
to have taken his full share of the labor and re- 
sponsibihty of deciding the constitutional and other 
important questions brought before that court for 
final settlement. His elaborate opinion in favor of 
the constitutionality of the license laws of the sev- 
eral States, and that against the exercise of admi- 
ralty jurisdiction in cases of marine trespass within 
the Slates, evince judicial talents of the highest 
order. 

In tracing the career of Judge Woodbury as a 
citizen, a politician, and a jurist, he has always 
been found a firm and efficient supporter of the 
Constitution of the United States, and of the high- 
est interests of the people. In the successive re- 
sponsible stations he has held in their service, the 
confidence of his fellow-citizens in his ability and 
purity of purpose has constantly increased. His 
amenity of manners, combined with unbending 
integrity, manifested in some of the most stormy 

Eeriods of our history, have secured to him the 
ighest personal esteem. If any one of our dis- 
tinguished public men may be regarded as a fair 
representative of the American character, it is he 
who, sprung from industrious tillers of the soil, 
early stored his mind with usefwl knowledge, and 
afterwards directed his whole energies to practical 
usefulness, giving his hands, head, and heart, to 
the promotion of public improvement, advancing 
the real progress of the country, and serving it 
with a fidelity and devotion worthy of the best 
models to be found in any age. 



PhDted at tiie Congiessional Globe Office, Jackton Hull, WashiDgton, D. C— Price 50 cents per hundred copies. 



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